2 of Eagles' biggest leaders show support for Wentz

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Jason Kelce is like the rest of us.

He’s incredulous.

The Eagles’ veteran has been with the team since the 2011 season and he’s seen a lot. He still remembers how Carson Wentz “transformed” the Eagles’ offense upon his arrival both on and off the field.

He watched Wentz go from a rookie to an MVP candidate, to a comeback player and now he’s watched him get benched in Year 5. Like the rest of us, Kelce never saw this coming, at least not at the start of the year.

“So it's kind of hard to believe that we're at this point now, to be honest with you,” Kelce said on Wednesday. “This season has not gone the way any of us obviously anticipated or we'd like it to have gone, but sitting here at 3-8-1, we got to do something. You got to try and make a change or whatever, and obviously the offense has been absolutely terrible, the last four weeks in particular.

“I have no doubt that this is not the final (chapter) to the Carson Wentz story or saga. I will always have confidence in him as a person and him as a player. So just gonna go out there this week and play some ball.”

Kelce and Fletcher Cox are two of the longest-tenured players on the Eagles roster and both showed support on Wednesday for their fellow captain, Wentz, after his benching in favor of rookie Jalen Hurts. But both also said they’ll support Hurts and the team’s decision.

Still, Cox called Wentz one of his best friends on the team. And it isn’t easy to see your best friend go through this.

“I talk to Carson a lot,” Cox said. “I talk to him during the good times, during the bad times. During times like this right here now. I saw him today and we carried our conversation on just like we do every day. You know, it sucks because at the end of the day it’s never just one person. It sucks for a guy like Carson to be in a position that he’s in right now, but again I’m going to support Carson, he’s my guy and right now instead of worrying about the drama and stuff going on we just need to worry about and focus on winning a game.”

On Tuesday evening, Cox liked a Twitter post that seemingly indicated his support for Wentz over Hurts. And on Wednesday, Cox didn’t deny purposely or knowingly doing it. He actually said he stood by his Twitter activity.

Ultimately, though, Cox said he’ll support Hurts because he’s his teammate too.

“Like I said, Carson, he’s my best friend, he’s my guy, I’ve always had his back since Day 1,” Cox said. “Jalen, he’s my teammate, also, you know? So you’ve got to support whoever’s in there.”

You can see how a decision to play one quarterback over another could end up being divisive. After all, this is the same locker room that once had to fight against a divide between Nick Foles and Wentz.

But Cox and Kelce both shot down the notion of any kind of divide in this situation. They say the Eagles are ready to support whichever quarterback is out there.

“We have a good culture,” Kelce said. “In particular, Carson Wentz is an incredible teammate, so I have no doubt in my mind that's gonna do everything he can to help Jalen Hurts succeed, and I think that anybody who isn't doing that for all of their teammates should be on the first ticket out of here because that's not the culture of the team that I want to be on.”

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